Tag Archives: Department of Labor

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has rejected an appeal filed by the City of New York following a 2019 jury verdict that awarded almost $18 million in unpaid wages, overtime, and damages to a class of more than 2,500 FDNY EMTs and paramedics. This most recent decision “might” signal an end to this long and ...

A group of twenty-four current and former “District Chiefs” from the Orlando Fire Department have filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging the city misclassified them as overtime exempt employees in violation of the FLSA. This lawsuit is the latest in a series of similar lawsuits filed by high-ranking fire officers from across the country seeking overtime pay. Quoting from ...

Over 400 current and former Los Angeles City Fire Department firefighter/medics have filed a federal lawsuit against the city alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California earlier this summer contains allegations that the city misclassified hundreds of firefighter/medics as employees engaged ...

The City of Mobile, Alabama has reached a settlement with three police officers assigned to the city’s K9 division following an FLSA lawsuit over unpaid worktime. The three claimed the city failed to compensate them for some “off-the-clock” work necessary to care for their assigned K9s. The FLSA and Department of Labor regulations require employers compensate overtime eligible employees for ...

The Upper Captiva Fire Protection and Rescue Service District (district) is facing its second FLSA misclassification lawsuit from a former chief officer since 2021. The district provides fire and EMS services on the tiny island of North Captiva on Florida’s gulf coast. The island of North Captiva is located a few miles northwest of Ft. Meyers Beach and is only ...

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has ordered the City of Gary, Indiana to pay 154 firefighters and 18 paramedics a total of $672,000 in back overtime wages. The order follows a DOL investigation into the city’s pay practices related to firefighter and medic pay. According to the DOL, the city failed to pay firefighters overtime for all hours worked ...

Ten Cobb County, Georgia battalion chiefs have filed a federal lawsuit alleging the county has failed to pay them overtime as required by federal law. More specifically, the battalion chiefs claim the county misclassified them as overtime exempt “white collar” employees in violation of the FLSA. Quoting from the complaint: Within the last three years, and continuing to date, while ...

Today’s FLSA Question: My department provides all firefighters and officers [except for staff personnel assigned to 40-hour workweeks] 13 floating Kelly Days per year. In exchange for these Kelly Days, we do not receive any FLSA overtime for our scheduled work shifts. In the past, the department allowed two firefighters to use their floating Kelly Day on any given shift. ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I recently read a news story about a fire chief that retired and received compensation for 93 comp time days in addition to his unused vacation and sick time. My question is specifically about the comp time buy-out. Assuming that each “day” equaled 8 hours of comp time, that equates to 744 hours of comp time. My ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time paid firefighter in a small rural combination fire department. We have 12 full-time firefighters and another dozen active volunteers. Our department has strict rules that forbid our paid firefighters volunteering their time for the department. Recently, the department began allowing the volunteer firefighters the opportunity to pick up “per diem” shifts. The volunteers ...